The New York Rangers need a bounceback game tonight after a listless effort against the Ottawa Senators. They are playing in Montreal against a Canadiens team hungry for a win. It won’t be easy.
The New York Rangers locker room was off limits for awhile after the debacle in Ottawa last night. It was time for some soul searching by the players after an inferior effort against a team they should at least be competitive with. It’s worked before, but the whole win a big game – lose a bad game – rebound with a good game ritual is getting a little old.
David Quinn was pretty down after the game last night. It will be interesting to see what changes will be made, if any. He is stuck with a limited roster and there’s little room for scratching players. He did make the only change he could make, sitting Tim Gettinger in favor of Micheal Haley who has cleared waivers, but hasn’t been sent down to Hartford. For the most part, any motivation will have to come from Quinn and the players themselves.
Prior to the game Quinn did say that they addressed the issues today “in a different manner.”
The Blueshirts are in a tough position tonight. If they allow a goal early it could spell trouble. The power play last night was overanxious. It remains to be seen which Ranger will take it upon himself to slow it down. The penalty kill is in a very bad place and needs to be successful.
David Quinn called out his veterans last night. Let’s see how Chris Kreider, Jesper Fast, Jacob Trouba and Brady Skjei respond.
Montreal has had a very solid season, though they have hit a bump in the road recently. With Jonathan Drouin out a couple months with a knee injury, the offensive burden is being borne by Tomas Tatar, Brendan Gallagher and Phillip Danault with the help of kids like Nick Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Montreal is a young team with a bunch of relative no names and they have been playing well.
The Canadiens were one of the hottest teams in the league, winning seven out o f nine games, but have lost their last three to decidedly inferior opponents (Columbus, New Jersey and Ottawa). That alone should provide some encouragement to the Blueshirts.
As a result of the losing streak, Canadiens coach Claude Julien has completely rejuggled their bottom three lines and rookie Cale Fleury is in for Brett Kulak on defense.
Quinn spoke about what the team needs to do when asked about youthful mistakes. He said “It’s intentions in my mind. When you’re playing with the right intentions, you’re still going to make mistakes. One of the things that happened last night, we weren’t playing with the right intentions or the right purpose. To me that’s unacceptable….we need to make sure we’re playing with the right purpose and the right intentions tonight.”
So, the question remains, which New York Rangers team will show up tonight?
Projected Lineups
New York Rangers
10 Panarin – 16 Strome – 17 Fast
20 Kreider – 72 Chytil – 89 Buchnevich
48 Lemieux – 21 Howden – 24 Kakko
26 Gettinger – 14 McKegg – 42 Smith
25 Hajek – 8 Trouba
76 Skjei – 77 DeAngelo
55 Lindgren – 23 Fox
40 Georgiev
30 Lundqvist
Montreal Canadiens
90 Tomas Tatar – 24 Phillip Danault – 11 Brendan Gallagher
62 Arrturi Lehkonen – 13 Max Domi – 14 Nike Suzuki
54 Charles Hudon – 15 Jesperi Kotkaniemi – 40 Joel Armia
21 Nick Cousins – 44 Nate Thompson – 43 Jordan Weal
8 Ben Chiarot – 6 Shea Weber
53 Victor Mete – 26 Jeff Petry
28 Mike Reilly – 20 Cale Fleury
31 Carey Price
37 Keith Kinkaid
Betting odds and lines
If you are a gambler, the Rangers are +185 on the Moneyline courtesy of The Action Network.
Join the live conversation
The live thread is open….now. There were a lot of comments in reaction to last night’s game. Let’s see how it goes tonight in a very tough arena for the Rangers to win in and against a very tough team to win against.